About Iraj Zand
Iraj Karimkhan Zand was born on July 10, 1950, in Tehran. His father, Yaddollah, and his grandfather, Ali Akbar Khan, were both architects, while his uncle, Asadollah, was a painter and plasterer, and another uncle, Fathollah, was involved in printing and publishing. He spent his childhood and kindergarten years in the Darvazeh Dolat neighborhood of Tehran a warm house in a neighborhood where children played football, and he watched the first television images from the window overlooking their alley.
At the age of 9, he moved from the Darvazeh Dolat house to his maternal grandmother’s house in the Amiriyeh neighborhood of Tehran. His elder sister got married, and Iraj and his mother relocated to Amiriyeh. Iraj’s father also began a new life with his second wife.
During the early years of high school, Iraj joined his father’s new family, experiencing the tumultuous high school years in this house. Disliking chemistry and traditional classes, he rebelled and enrolled in vocational school to study painting. His path to the art school was eased by a family with an artistic inclination. It was there that Iraj became acquainted with the world of art alongside his mentor and teacher, Asghar Mohammadi.
After completing high school, Iraj entered the Tehran College of Fine Arts in 1969. However, he found the repetitive and formal nature of the courses unsettling. Despite having notable professors such as Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam, Hannibal Alkhas, and Behjat Sadr, Iraj left the university, served in the military in Baneh, Kurdistan (conscription), and later engaged in teaching painting at the Golabatoon Atelier in Tehran.
Shortly thereafter, in 1973, Iraj traveled to India, engaging in research, observation, and tourism. He eventually spent several months exploring Nepal, concluding his journey. The result of this research was a collection of several hundred slides and a detailed report presented at a conference at the Tehran College of Decorative Arts in 1973.
Two years later, in 1975, Iraj left Iran to continue his studies in Paris and entered the Beaux-Arts de Paris in Paris in the fall of the same year. The presence of professors such as Pierre Mathey, Jaque Lagrange, and Jean Bertholle, and an atelier like the Guimberg Atelier, along with participation in exhibitions both within and outside the college, including the Grand Palais during that period, made Iraj increasingly interested in artistic work.
In 1977, Iraj traveled to Italy to study medieval art (Roman and Gothic). For the first time, he became acquainted with frescoes and mural paintings, creating a combination of space, form, and color with mystical nuances that remained with him until the end.
During that time, moving was relatively easy, and Iraj moved from one country to another, ending up in Eugene, USA. His keen observation and meticulous examination of the works of artists provided an exceptional opportunity for this artist to become familiar with customs, cultures, and various languages..
Finally, in 1980, Iraj Karimkhan Zand graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris in Paris with a degree in painting. Driven by his passion for frescoes from the 10th to 12th centuries, he traveled to northern Spain, where he discovered the most beautiful and magnificent periods of the history of this art form, according to his account. He settled in the remote villages of northern Spain and embarked on the exploration and study of 49 churches and prayer houses from that era.
Simultaneously, at the Vitrail Bozart Atelier, he attended supplementary classes. In 1981, he left Paris for Avignon, a cultural and artistic city in southern France, known for its art festivals to this day, and became the place where Iraj introduced himself as a Frescoist. He engaged in mural painting in prayer houses and teaching, and during this period, executed the fresco of the Saint Mary Church.
The Iran-Iraq War and the support of European countries for Iraq transformed Iraj. Tolerating life in the city of Avignon in the tranquil and painless Europe of that time was challenging for Iraj. In 1986, simultaneous with his father’s passing, he made a short trip to Iran. Amid the war’s chaos, he met friends like Mohammad Ebrahim Jafari, and these encounters persuaded him to return. In the same year, he came back to Iran and commenced his work at the Isfahan College of Fine Arts.
Despite his high spirits and enthusiasm, Iraj, confronted with the ups and downs of the educational system in Isfahan at that time, was not content to stay. He abandoned the college and teaching, returning to Tehran in 1986. He executed his first mural painting commission in the amphitheater of the Industrial Development & Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO).
In the summer of the same year (July 23, 1986), in Tehran, he married his fiancée, Sayeh, a graduate in architecture from the College of Fine Arts in Paris. Their shared life experiences, both culturally and in terms of tastes and preferences, made the beginning of their life simpler and lighter, despite the hardships of the Iran-Iraq War that had culminated in the missile attacks on Tehran.
During this period, Iraj abandoned social turmoil and daily routines behind closed doors of his home and sought refuge in his studio on Molla Sadra Street. In this space, work, discussions, interactions, and socializing with friends, poets, writers, artists, and sometimes collectors, alongside warm reunions with classmates from the high school and the College of Fine Arts lightened the burden of the war era; including encounters with Shohreh Izadi, Bahram Dabir, Ahmad Zohdi, Fariba Rahaei, Manouchehr Safarzadeh, and others,
In this Molla Sadra studio, Iraj held an exhibition of fresco prototypes and then presented a review of Picasso’s rotogravures. Additionally, he organized exhibitions at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art during this period, revitalizing hope within living artists. Working and teaching at the university, and relocating to the studio on 16 Azar Street, near the University of Tehran, brought solace to young art students after several years of the Iran-Iraq War
In 1990, Iraj took on the task of executing the ceiling of the Noghreh Publishing Association. Subsequently, in 1992, he received a commission for mural painting in the Jahan Koudak’s Metro.
During these years, he embarked on his first experiences with “two-dimensional to three-dimensional” works. He described the beginning of this new phase in his art, stating, “I drew a painting on cardboard, but I didn’t like its sky and clouds. So, I cut it with scissors, folded the cardboard, and moved from a flat surface to a three-dimensional form.” This marked the initiation of a new era in the work of this painter and frescoist, leading to sculpting with thin metal sheets, thin iron and brass sheets, gypsum blocks, and Plexiglas in the later years.
His large urban sculptures, executed using the technique of curved metal sheets, adorned Tehran and Isfahan.
Iraj dedicated himself to painting and sculpting from 1990 to the fall of 2006, the last 15 years of his life. He remarked, “As one maestro put it, my sculptures emerge from a two-dimensional surface.”
In the final years of his life, Iraj established a studio in Darakeh, which can be considered one of the most unique workshops in his lifetime. This workshop, situated between two pieces of land connected by a bridge, with a stream flowing through, provided a tranquil setting. The sound of the flowing water served as an inspiring melody for the gentle spirit of this artist.
In this workshop, Iraj wrote his final handwritten notes and created his last works. Unfortunately, time was brief, and he did not have the opportunity to engage in new projects. Today, his sculpture, “Muraqabah,” resides peacefully in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, observing the comings and goings of artists and art enthusiasts.
